http://www.ancient.eu/user/JPryst/Isaiah 8:1-4
"Moreover the LORD said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man's pen concerning Mahershalalhashbaz. And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz. For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria."
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Order of Neo-Assyrian Kings (Click To Enlarge)
Who was this King of Assyria mentioned at the time of the prophet Isaiah? According to historians, it was Tiglath-Pileser III (biblical Pul). He was the father of Shalmaneser V who would be assassinated by his own brother Sargon II, as well as being the Assyrian king who would conquer Israel and end the northern kingdom) and grandfather of the also famous Sennacherib, Tiglath-Pileser III was a powerful ruler who revived the older Assyrian Empire and begun a new expansion in conquest. Historians have called this revival of the older empire the Neo-Assyrian Empire. True to their ancient and previous traditions, the Assyrians committed atrocious acts of barbarism against their enemies. Having taken power by killing the royal family in Assyria, he made out the world's first standing army out of the already powerful Assyrian war machine. Wikipedia states:
Tiglath-Pileser III
Tiglath-Pileser III subjugated much of the Near East region; to the south, his fellow Mesopotamians in Babylonia and Chaldea, and further south still, the Arabs, Magan, Meluhha, and Dilmunites of the Arabian Peninsula. In the south west, Israel, Judah, Philistia, Samarra, Moab, Edom, the Suteans andNabatea fell. To the north, Urartu, Armenia and Scythia in the Caucasus Mountains, Cimmeria by the Black Sea, and Nairi were subjugated, and in the north west much of eastern and south western Asia Minor, including the Hittites, Phrygia, Cilicia, Commagene, Tabal, Corduene and Caria. In the west, the Greeks of Cyprus andAram (modern Syria), and the Mediterranean City States of Phoenicia/Caanan were subjugated. To the east he subjugated Persia, Media, Gutium, Mannea, Cissia and Elam, and later in his reign, Tiglath-Pileser III was crowned king in Babylonia.
WHO WERE THE ASSYRIANS?
Much of what we know about Assyrian history comes from the archeological investigations of Henry Layard. From 1849-1851 he led a series of digs that discovered the Library of Ashurbanipal. This Library consists of over 30,000 cuneiform clay tablets.
Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894)
This library was discovered at the ancient city of Nimrud near present-day Mosul, Iraq. They are currently held at the British Museum where they are being photographed to be put online. The museum describes the collection:
Alongside historical inscriptions, letters, administrative and legal texts, were found thousands of divinatory, magical, medical, literary and lexical texts. This treasure-house of learning has held unparalleled importance to the modern study of the ancient Near East ever since the first fragments were excavated in the 1850s.
The library has still not been fully translated to the complete satisfaction of Assyriologists.
A major catalogue of Ashurbanipal’s Library was published by the British Museum in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but thanks to the labours of many scholars much more is now known about ancient Mesopotamian languages and what is written in them. In addition, the library was in fragments when discovered, and Assyriologists have spent the last 150 years looking for pieces that can be rejoined in the hope of retrieving complete compositions. A new catalogue is required.
Layard also discovered what is called the Assyrian palace reliefs. The most famous of these statues are the lamassu, protective minor deities that guarded the palace.
Assyrian sculpture typically placed prominent pairs of lamassu at entrances in palaces, facing the street and also internal courtyards. They were "double-aspect" figures on corners, in high relief. From the front they appear to stand, and from the side, walk, and in earlier versions have five legs, as is apparent when viewed obliquely. Lamassu do not generally appear as large figures in the low-relief schemes running round palace rooms, where winged genie figures are common, but they sometimes appear within narrative reliefs, apparently protecting the Assyrians
Lamassu
The other well-known statue of the so-called winged genie.
These genii have all been interpreted as beings known as antediluvian sages or apkallus in Akkadian. They were beings that existed during a godlike generation of humanity. These beings were closely associated with the god Enki. During the antediluvian age, humanity was “covered” or more commonly referred to as the great flood, and the inhabitants were purified and roamed the earth as invisible genii. There are also other references to the apkallus as being purified humans that were sent to Apsû, the underground sweet water realm of Enki/Ea by Marduk the ruler god.
Winged Genie (Click To Enlarge)
The map below shows the land occupied by ancient Assyrian Empire (darker green) and the Neo-Assyrian Empire (lighter green). Eventually, the Neo-Assyrian Empire would, by the will of God, extend its military conquests all the way to Egypt, thus ending the centuries-old competition between these two superpowers for control of the Middle East.
Click To Enlarge
Along with this long list of conquered territories, Tiglath-Pileser III carried out reforms. These reforms made Assyria powerful and centered again. An efficient ruler, a reorganized government, a new and powerful modern army assured his success. Wikipedia explains:
The first of such reforms entailed thwarting the powers of the high Assyrian officials, which during the reigns of his predecessors had become excessive. Officials such as Shamshi-ilu, who was turtanu (General) and a prominent official since the time of Ada-nirari III, often led their own campaigns and erected their own commemorative stelae, often without mentioning the king at all. Since his earliest inscriptions (and thus from the beginning of his reign), he gave regular mention of appointing eunuchs as governors of (newly conquered) provinces; this removed the threat of provincial rule becoming a dynastic matter. He also sought the power of his officials by reducing the size of his provinces (in some cases the northern provinces were increased to include newly conquered territories), thus decreasing their resources, should they have desired to incite a revolt. Subsequently, there were more provinces, more governors (most of which were eunuchs), and less power per governor.
Peoples Under Assyrian Control (Click To Enlarge(
The second reform targeted the army. Instead of a largely native Assyrian army which normally campaigned only in the sumer time, Tiglath-Pileser incorporated large numbers of conquered people into the army, thus adding a substantial foreign element. This force mainly comprised the light infantry, whereas the native Assyrians comprised the cavalry, heavy infantry and the charioteers. As a result of Tiglath-Pileser's military reforms, the Assyrian Empire was armed with a greatly expanded army which could campaign throughout the year. The addition of the cavalry and chariot contingents to the army was mostly due to the steppe cultures lurking nearby to the north, which sometimes invaded their northern colonies, using mainly cavalry and primitive chariots.
In case you need a summary of this great ruler's life, this video does a neat job of summarizing his reign. This new reorganization by Tiglath-Pileser III according to historian Paul Kriwaczek, Babylon Mesopotamia and The Birth of Civilization was very impressive. Thus the ancient kings of Israel would have seen a terrifying scene unfold before their city walls with the approach of the Assyrian army. The quote comes from the excellent website Ancient History Encyclopedia.
...in the centre of the formation, the main body of infantry, compact phalanxes of spearmen, their weapon points glittering in the sun, each arranged in ten files of twenty ranks. He would have marveled – and perhaps trembled – at the discipline and precision of their maneuvering, a contrast to the relatively freewheeling manner of previous armies, for the reforms had introduced a highly developed and effective command structure. Infantrymen fought in squads of ten, each headed by an NCO, and grouped into companies of five to twenty squads under the command of a Captain. They were well protected and even better equipped, for Assyria was fielding the very first iron armies: iron swords, iron spear blades, iron helmets and even iron scales sewn as armor on to their tunics. Bronze weaponry offered no real contest: this new material, which was cheaper, harder, less brittle, could be ground sharper and kept a keener edge
for far longer. Iron ore is not found in the north Mesopotamian heartland, so every effort had been made to put all nearby sources of the metal under Assyrian control. Assyrian spearmen were more mobile than their predecessors too. Rather than sandals, they now wore the Assyrian military invention that was arguably one of the most influential and long-lasting of all: the army boot. In this case the boots were knee-high leather footwear, thick-soled, hobnailed and with iron plates inserted to protect the shins, which made it possible for the first time to fight on any terrain however rough or wet, mountain or marsh, and in any season, winter or summer. This was the first all-weather, all-year army.
Summary Inscription 7 Tiglath-Pileser III
Professor Joshua J. Mark further describes the technical superiority of the Neo-Assyrian army.
In addition there were archers and slingers, the archers equipped with the new composite bow which could fire long-range over the advancing infantry, and, at the forefront, the siege engines of the shock troops and “formations of chariots, mobile missile platforms, the ancient equivalent of tanks. These were no longer drawn at a slow pace by asses, but by much faster, larger, and more rugged animals: horses. Each chariot was powered by up to four of the beasts” (Kriwaczek, 237). This was the army that men like King Menachem of Israel saw threatening their cities. In Menachem’s case, he chose to submit without resistance, paying Tiglath Pileser III 1,000 talents of silver. This transaction is mentioned in the Bible in II Kings 15:19 and I Chronicles 5:26, as well as in Assyrian inscriptions and, by it, Menachem saved himself and his city. He only had to swear loyalty and pay tribute to the Assyrian government to avoid having his city sacked and the people slaughtered. As Kriwaczek writes, “the decision, and the huge cost, paid off. Thanks to Assyrian support, Menachem was the only Israelite ruler during this anarchic period who managed to retain his position and die naturally in his bed” (239). Once loyalty was assured, regions such as Israel under Menachem were allowed to retain some autonomy and continue on with their lives as before.
Here is a computerized visualization of how the palace at Nimrud which Tiglath-Pileser III built might have looked like.
WHO WERE THE ASSYRIANS?Tiglath-Pileser III subjugated much of the Near East region; to the south, his fellow Mesopotamians in Babylonia and Chaldea, and further south still, the Arabs, Magan, Meluhha, and Dilmunites of the Arabian Peninsula. In the south west, Israel, Judah, Philistia, Samarra, Moab, Edom, the Suteans andNabatea fell. To the north, Urartu, Armenia and Scythia in the Caucasus Mountains, Cimmeria by the Black Sea, and Nairi were subjugated, and in the north west much of eastern and south western Asia Minor, including the Hittites, Phrygia, Cilicia, Commagene, Tabal, Corduene and Caria. In the west, the Greeks of Cyprus andAram (modern Syria), and the Mediterranean City States of Phoenicia/Caanan were subjugated. To the east he subjugated Persia, Media, Gutium, Mannea, Cissia and Elam, and later in his reign, Tiglath-Pileser III was crowned king in Babylonia.
Tiglath-Pileser III
Much of what we know about Assyrian history comes from the archeological investigations of Henry Layard. From 1849-1851 he led a series of digs that discovered the Library of Ashurbanipal. This Library consists of over 30,000 cuneiform clay tablets.
 |
| Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894) |
This library was discovered at the ancient city of Nimrud near present-day Mosul, Iraq. They are currently held at the British Museum where they are being photographed to be put online. The museum describes the collection:
Alongside historical inscriptions, letters, administrative and legal texts, were found thousands of divinatory, magical, medical, literary and lexical texts. This treasure-house of learning has held unparalleled importance to the modern study of the ancient Near East ever since the first fragments were excavated in the 1850s.The library has still not been fully translated to the complete satisfaction of Assyriologists.
A major catalogue of Ashurbanipal’s Library was published by the British Museum in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but thanks to the labours of many scholars much more is now known about ancient Mesopotamian languages and what is written in them. In addition, the library was in fragments when discovered, and Assyriologists have spent the last 150 years looking for pieces that can be rejoined in the hope of retrieving complete compositions. A new catalogue is required.Layard also discovered what is called the Assyrian palace reliefs. The most famous of these statues are the lamassu, protective minor deities that guarded the palace.
 |
| Lamassu |
The other well-known statue of the so-called winged genie.
These genii have all been interpreted as beings known as antediluvian sages or apkallus in Akkadian. They were beings that existed during a godlike generation of humanity. These beings were closely associated with the god Enki. During the antediluvian age, humanity was “covered” or more commonly referred to as the great flood, and the inhabitants were purified and roamed the earth as invisible genii. There are also other references to the apkallus as being purified humans that were sent to Apsû, the underground sweet water realm of Enki/Ea by Marduk the ruler god.
 |
| Winged Genie (Click To Enlarge) |
The map below shows the land occupied by ancient Assyrian Empire (darker green) and the Neo-Assyrian Empire (lighter green). Eventually, the Neo-Assyrian Empire would, by the will of God, extend its military conquests all the way to Egypt, thus ending the centuries-old competition between these two superpowers for control of the Middle East.
 |
| Click To Enlarge |
The first of such reforms entailed thwarting the powers of the high Assyrian officials, which during the reigns of his predecessors had become excessive. Officials such as Shamshi-ilu, who was turtanu (General) and a prominent official since the time of Ada-nirari III, often led their own campaigns and erected their own commemorative stelae, often without mentioning the king at all. Since his earliest inscriptions (and thus from the beginning of his reign), he gave regular mention of appointing eunuchs as governors of (newly conquered) provinces; this removed the threat of provincial rule becoming a dynastic matter. He also sought the power of his officials by reducing the size of his provinces (in some cases the northern provinces were increased to include newly conquered territories), thus decreasing their resources, should they have desired to incite a revolt. Subsequently, there were more provinces, more governors (most of which were eunuchs), and less power per governor.
 |
| Peoples Under Assyrian Control (Click To Enlarge( |
The second reform targeted the army. Instead of a largely native Assyrian army which normally campaigned only in the sumer time, Tiglath-Pileser incorporated large numbers of conquered people into the army, thus adding a substantial foreign element. This force mainly comprised the light infantry, whereas the native Assyrians comprised the cavalry, heavy infantry and the charioteers. As a result of Tiglath-Pileser's military reforms, the Assyrian Empire was armed with a greatly expanded army which could campaign throughout the year. The addition of the cavalry and chariot contingents to the army was mostly due to the steppe cultures lurking nearby to the north, which sometimes invaded their northern colonies, using mainly cavalry and primitive chariots.
...in the centre of the formation, the main body of infantry, compact phalanxes of spearmen, their weapon points glittering in the sun, each arranged in ten files of twenty ranks. He would have marveled – and perhaps trembled – at the discipline and precision of their maneuvering, a contrast to the relatively freewheeling manner of previous armies, for the reforms had introduced a highly developed and effective command structure. Infantrymen fought in squads of ten, each headed by an NCO, and grouped into companies of five to twenty squads under the command of a Captain. They were well protected and even better equipped, for Assyria was fielding the very first iron armies: iron swords, iron spear blades, iron helmets and even iron scales sewn as armor on to their tunics. Bronze weaponry offered no real contest: this new material, which was cheaper, harder, less brittle, could be ground sharper and kept a keener edge
for far longer. Iron ore is not found in the north Mesopotamian heartland, so every effort had been made to put all nearby sources of the metal under Assyrian control. Assyrian spearmen were more mobile than their predecessors too. Rather than sandals, they now wore the Assyrian military invention that was arguably one of the most influential and long-lasting of all: the army boot. In this case the boots were knee-high leather footwear, thick-soled, hobnailed and with iron plates inserted to protect the shins, which made it possible for the first time to fight on any terrain however rough or wet, mountain or marsh, and in any season, winter or summer. This was the first all-weather, all-year army.
 |
| Summary Inscription 7 Tiglath-Pileser III |
In addition there were archers and slingers, the archers equipped with the new composite bow which could fire long-range over the advancing infantry, and, at the forefront, the siege engines of the shock troops and “formations of chariots, mobile missile platforms, the ancient equivalent of tanks. These were no longer drawn at a slow pace by asses, but by much faster, larger, and more rugged animals: horses. Each chariot was powered by up to four of the beasts” (Kriwaczek, 237). This was the army that men like King Menachem of Israel saw threatening their cities. In Menachem’s case, he chose to submit without resistance, paying Tiglath Pileser III 1,000 talents of silver. This transaction is mentioned in the Bible in II Kings 15:19 and I Chronicles 5:26, as well as in Assyrian inscriptions and, by it, Menachem saved himself and his city. He only had to swear loyalty and pay tribute to the Assyrian government to avoid having his city sacked and the people slaughtered. As Kriwaczek writes, “the decision, and the huge cost, paid off. Thanks to Assyrian support, Menachem was the only Israelite ruler during this anarchic period who managed to retain his position and die naturally in his bed” (239). Once loyalty was assured, regions such as Israel under Menachem were allowed to retain some autonomy and continue on with their lives as before.Here is a computerized visualization of how the palace at Nimrud which Tiglath-Pileser III built might have looked like.
 |
| Click To Enlarge |
This computerized rendering is based on archeological explorations in Iraq by a Polish team. Although Ashurnasirpal II ruled after Tiglath-Pileser III, it should not be concluded that this palace would have been radically different. This was the magnificence of Assyrian technology.
succeeded Zechariah who was
brutally assassinated by his general of the Israeli army, Shallum. None of these characters were noble. None of them righteous. None of them regarded the God of Israel whom Moses had followed with any respect. They were pragmatic politicians who schemed to get more power, prepared to murder and use brutality on anyone standing in their way. These men had come a long way from David and Solomon. They were indeed no better than their neighbors and perhaps in some cases even worse. The book of Kings pulls no punches in the description of his reign:
In the thirty and eighth year of Azariah king of Judah did Zachariah the son of Jeroboam reign over Israel in Samaria six months. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. (II Kings 15:8)
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| Click To Enlarge |
And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 18Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it. 19And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. 20And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD. 21Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity, and will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, 22And will make thine house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the provocation wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger, and made Israel to sin.
DESTRUCTION AT JEZREEL
The means God used for this deed was the person of Jehu, one of the captains of the army of Israel (northern kingdom). After the king of Israel, Jehoram was wounded at the battle of Ramoth-Gilead, he was brought to rest to Jezreel for his recovery. Here, the prophet Elisha was instructed to anoint him the new king of Israel. Jehu marched on Jezreel and Jehoram trying to flee was shot through the heart by an arrow. Ahaziah, the king of Judah, who was there attending to his friend Jehoram, was also was mortally wounded and later died in Megiddo. Jehu carried out God's sentence on Ahab's line. (II Kings 22:1-8)
The reason for these killings was explained by the chronicler of Kings.And Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, unto the rulers of Jezreel, to the elders, and to them that brought up Ahab's children, saying, 2 Now as soon as this letter cometh to you, seeing your master's sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, a fenced city also, and armour; 3 Look even out the best and meetest of your master's sons, and set him on his father's throne, and fight for your master's house.4 But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, Behold, two kings stood not before him: how then shall we stand? 5 And he that was over the house, and he that was over the city, the elders also, and the bringers up of the children, sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy servants, and will do all that thou shalt bid us; we will not make any king: do thou that which is good in thine eyes. 6 Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye be mine, and if ye will hearken unto my voice, take ye the heads of the men your master's sons, and come to me to Jezreel by to morrow this time. Now the king's sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city, which brought them up. 7 And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king's sons, and slew seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent him them to Jezreel. 8 And there came a messenger, and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king's sons. And he said, Lay ye them in two heaps at the entering in of the gate until the morning. 9 And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, Ye be righteous: behold, I conspired against my master, and slew him: but who slew all these?
Jehu killing the sons of Ahab
Know now that there shall fall unto the earth nothing of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spoke concerning the house of Ahab; for the LORD hath done that which He spoke by His servant Elijah.
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